Faulkner athletic director and head football coach Brent Barker applauds members of the football team as they play Cumberland at John Mark Stallings Field last fall in Montgomery.

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Faulkner University just completed the most successful athletic season in its history, with half of its 10 varsity sports qualifying for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship tournaments.

School officials credit a 2007 decision to institute a football program as a means of paying for a better athletic program and better facilities, as well as bolstering overall enrollment at the school. Increased enrollment, in turn, brought more money in the form of tuition.

"I didn't realize this until I got out here that that's the way a lot of small colleges exist," ...